Dr Dre opens up in new documentary series The Defiant Ones (Picture: Netflix)

The Defiant Ones charts the game-changing careers of Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, who have shaped the modern musical landscape on different sides of the spectrum.

While Dre found fame as part of influential rap group N.W.A in 1986, he’s since become instrumental in the careers of Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar to name a few.

Apple Music’s Jimmy Iovine is a record producer noted for his work with names like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and John Lennon – later becoming co-founder of Interscope Records who helped launch the careers of Gwen Stefani, Lady Gaga and The Black Eyed Peas.

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This four-part documentary series expertly unravels the pair’s web of influence with an incredible roster of celebrity interviews, all building up to Dre and Iovine collaborating on Beats Electronics who were purchased by Apple for $3 billion in May 2014.

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This bounce across music history is brought to life by director Allen Hughes, usually known as one half of the Hughes Brothers who directed feature films like From Hell, Menace II Society and 2010’s The Book Of Eli.

Allen had known both Jimmy and Dre for ‘over 20 years’ before making the series, but despite their familiarity with each other, prying into the personal lives of two friends caused a perhaps unsurprising amount of tension.

Allen said prying into Dre’s life caused some tension (Picture: Netflix)

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Allen said: ‘The thing about Dre is… he’s drama free for the most part but the closer you are to him creatively, and with Jimmy too, there becomes this tension that happens.

‘The tension comes from pushing each other – me and Dre got in way more arguments than me and Jimmy. Heated arguments. Sometimes it had nothing to do with the film.’

Asked the subject of the arguments, Allen jokes: ‘Oh man, I wish I could remember.

‘No, I remember. It’s like when you’re with someone for that long and it’s the wee hours of the morning, sometimes you’re drinking too and tempers start to…’

He trails off with an escalating hand gesture, but it’s easy to see why Dre and Jimmy would be concerned over the documentary’s intentions. The Defiant Ones doesn’t hold back on bringing up scars on both its subjects, including bad blood with musical acts and assault charges against Dre from music journalist Dee Barnes in 1991.

Allen admits they both attempted to have some control of the process during filming, but they soon learned the power of loosening up.

‘I think that’s where a lot of the tension came from,’ Allen admits. ‘You can’t make a documentary and you guys dictate. They understood that along the way, but Jimmy is a puppet-master so you have to learn to work with that and not be compromised. He was good with that, eventually.’

Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine signed a historic deal with Apple in 2014 (Picture: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage)

The project began after Allen contacted HBO to pitch a documentary on Dr. Dre following his work on the music video for I Need A Doctor. The network jumped at the chance, but stated they had already commissioned a documentary around Interscope Records with Jimmy Iovine – which triggered a ‘lightbulb’ in Allen’s head.

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He’d previously created a documentary with his brother in 1999 called American Pimp, but Allen wasn’t prepared for how emotionally draining the experience would be.

‘When I went in I was naive so I didn’t know how many people we would be interviewing,’ Allen said. ‘Most people can interview like two or three people a day. The producers had me interviewing this rockstar, that rockstar and this person, and it was all so emotional for me.

‘I sit there and I really give it my all, getting the most out of them as far as being present and exuberant and interested which I was. I found along the way I couldn’t do two interviews in a day, I couldn’t even do two interviews in a week because most of the time I was recording for over two hours. Most people do 15 minutes. It took everything out of me emotionally.’

Director Allen Hughes won a Grammy for the series, which originally aired on HBO (Picture: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for NARAS)

If the prospect of vigorous interviews wasn’t alien enough, the personal nature of The Defiant Ones also proved an obstacle – requiring him to dig into his friends’ darker pasts and cover topics very close to home.

‘It was challenging on Jimmy’s side because he would rather focus on business than personal. We would argue because he doesn’t see the value in that,’ Allen said.

‘Dre was more open to it because he was ready, but it was still a challenge when you’re talking about the darker parts of his past. That’s what made it interesting though.

‘I’m very sensitive and one thing I did not want to do, and I always tell Dre this too, if you’re uncomfortable I’ll stop. As a friend, I never wanted to make Dre uncomfortable but I realised that was not a good thing in this process. If he was uncomfortable, we’d just do it another day.

Allen Hughes is most famous for feature films (Picture: Netflix)

‘To work with those guys is emotional and challenging, but to find those narratives – a lot was personal for me. I was close to Eazy-E, I was very close to Tupac, so to push and dig and find those melodies and narratives, it was painful.’

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While The Defiant Ones has been a draining experience it’s also been a successful one, having bagged the Grammy earlier this year for Best Music Film and heaps of critical praise.

It hasn’t completely put Allen off the idea of doing another documentary, just don’t expect a follow-up to arrive anytime soon.

‘Maybe the next one I’ll do will be more intimate,’ Allen says. ‘Just one singular person and a very simple story. But that wouldn’t be for five years.